MY PLAN A: ___________English Teacher______________________
My Plan A:
Consider:
❏ What do you enjoy?
❏ What sort of lifestyle do you
want?
❏ What are you good at?
Career Info that I have
discovered…
Consider:
❏ Upsides/downsides of job
❏ Job duties/ responsibilities
❏ Salary range
❏ Future outlook
❏ Lifestyle factors
❏ Advancement opportunities
Three employability skills I
possess that will support my
plan:
Consider:
❏ Soft and hard Skills required
for position
❏ Personal attributes
I enjoy being involved with people in my community and getting
involved with others that have the same interests as I do. I want to
live a lifestyle that is organized and follows a schedule, with some
room for daily change. However, overall, I want to be able to follow a
routine as I feel like that will help keep me on track. I am good at
adapting to my situations as well as being able to find myself in
difficult situations with quick solutions. Alongside that, I am an
excellent communicator and planner, and feel that I will have no
problems or issues planning myself a routine.
Upsides and downsides of teaching I feel is very dependent on each
individual person. For me, an upside would completely be the
involved-ness in the community, being able to aid others and teach
them through things they might not understand, and more. But one of
the major downsides, that is no secret, is that the pay is on the lower
side. The average salary in Alberta is around $57-$101k per year,
which can be considered on the lower side considering most will not
start on the upper side. The job duties and responsibilities include
planning lessons, teaching the students, being involved in staff
community, being able to enforce school protocol, and more. My
future outlook is that I would love to be able to do this and to be
involved in students lives that will impact them for years to come.
One of the lifestyle factors that I love about teaching is the routine
that it provides for you. You follow relatively the same schedule on a
daily basis, much like students in high school do now. However,
there is still room for me to follow my own daily desires while still
staying consistent. Opportunities for advancement is one of the
things that I feel I know the least about. There is obviously room to
advance in seniority as a teacher, and there are ways to progress up
to admin positions and potentially onto the board, but I also know
that is slightly more on the difficult side of things.
1. Communication – being able to communicate is something so
important in teaching as it allows room for discussion and clarification
for anything that may be necessary. Another reason that
communication is so important is because there needs to be room to
give and understand feedback, while still giving room to do so in a
patient and timely manner.
2. People person – having a sense of community and being able to
get involved within a school community is something that I think
makes teachers impacts on students much greater. Leaving room in
my schedule to be involved with students, staff, and any other events
that go on will not only provide me with a better experience but also
those around me.
3. Excellent planner – one of the things that can aid well for those in
the teaching field is their ability to plan, and their ability to adapt. For
teachers it is important to come up with your own lesson plan while
meeting a certain extent of criteria, and being able to adapt with
different ideas when there may be a conflict such as a student
missing class or a large project, learning capabilities that cause a
 student not to be able to complete an assignment, scheduling conflict
with other events, etc.

Education needed to pursue my Needing to complete an undergraduate program as well as a

plan: professional teacher education program is required. It is also
important to note that you need to also have a “teachable” subject.
Consider:
❏ Courses/training/ certificates
needed
❏ Post-secondary
requirements

MY BACKUP CAREER PLAN ____________School Counsellor_____________

My Plan B: I enjoy being involved with people in my community and getting

Consider:
❏ What do you enjoy?
❏ What sort of lifestyle do you
want?
❏ What are you good at?
involved with others that have the same interests as I do. I want to
live a lifestyle that is organized and follows a schedule, with some
room for daily change. However, overall, I want to be able to follow a
routine as I feel like that will help keep me on track. I am good at
adapting to my situations as well as being able to find myself in
difficult situations with quick solutions. Alongside that, I am an
excellent communicator and planner, and feel that I will have no
problems or issues planning myself a routine.

Career Info that I have
discovered…
Consider:
❏ Upsides/downsides of job
❏ Job duties/responsibilities
❏ Salary range
❏ Future outlook
❏ Lifestyle factors
❏ Advancement opportunities
Upsides and downsides of the job for me include the fact that I love
problem solving and listening to people and being someone that
they feel comfortable that they can go to with any issues. However,
one of the downsides that I would consider is the fact that they have
to deal with so many different things that can change daily and that
will probably provide extensive stress. Things such as dealing with
students with issues and also having to plan schedules that can be
conflicting with very little room for time flexibility. The salary range is
very similar to those in teaching positions with an average of $60k
per year. Another lifestyle factor that also plays in, which is similar to
teaching, is the fact that the schedule is relatively routinized, and
that allows for you to plan things around the schedule that you have.
This will allow me to get my foot in the door and if I choose to, I
could go back to school for more of the route of going to be a
teacher or the route of being a counselor for those outside of the
school environment.

Three employability skills I 1. Communication – being able to listen and communicate

possess that will support my effectively with those that I am counselling with will allow for me to
plan: listen and be able to provide insight and feedback for those that I am
listening to and conversing with.
Consider:
❏ Soft and hard skills required 2. Effective Planning – one of the things that is important for school
for position counsellors to consider is that they plan out and schedule many
❏ Personal attributes different meetings and schedules. One of the things our school
 counsellors do is making the schedule for each student, as well as
planning the different meetings and conferences that need to
happen.

3. Observant – one of the things that is highly important is the ability

to listen and be observant to different changes and differences that
may happen in others day to day lives. Building that understanding
of everyone that you may be seeing is important and will allow you
to excel at your job.

Education needed to pursue my A bachelor’s degree is required in counselling, career development,

plan: education, or social sciences is something that is needed. Alongside
that, a masters degree in some type of psychology or social work is
Consider: also usually required.
❏ Courses/training/certificates
needed
❏ Post-secondary
requirements

Work-Life Option
Living Costs and Savings Goal (Living INDEPENDENTLY)

Income Monthly: Yearly:

Hourly Wage/Salary $167.2 (weekly) $668.8 $836 (until June 1)

(monthly)

Hourly Wage/Salary after minimum wage $1,252 $3,756 (until I move)

increase (June 1) and with more hours per
week

Income after moving (working full time or $2,400 $28,800

part time at 2 jobs (assuming 40 hours a
week and getting paid minimum))

Total Income

$4,320.8 $33,392

Expenses:

Rent https:// $7,200

● List where you plan to live (either a trumanhomes.com/
rental link or a detailed description) esquire/
Living with my sister,
paying a flat rate of
$600 a month for my
room and food
included
 Medical Insurance $76.10 per month $913.20 per year

Utilities included included

Food/Grocery included included

Car Insurance $220 per month $2,640 per year

Gas for Car Roughly 150.9 right Roughly $60 per

now tank, filling every 2
weeks, so $1,440 per
year

Car Repairs Plan for $300 a month $3600 per year

to be put aside

Compass cost N/A N/A

Cell Phone/Internet $60 per month $720 per year

Clothing Plan $50 a month, not $600 per year

always spending
every month

Entertainment / Going out Plan $40 a month, not $480 per year
always spending
every month

Personal sundries $20 a month $240 per year

Recreation / Gym membership included included

Other $200 parking fees, $4,200 per year

-parking fees
-gifts $300 for everything
-house supplies else every few
-specialist fees months, plan $150 per
-eye care/prescriptions month, not always
-hair cuts spending every month
-move in costs (furniture, truck rental)

Savings
-try and save 10%

Total Expenses ROUGHLY $22,050

per year

Total Income MINUS Total Expenses $11,342

After filling out table, write a SEPARATE reflection on whether your job will support your
lifestyle.
● What sacrifices will you have to make?
● How will your priorities change?
● How much money do you plan to save per year? What will you use your savings
for in five years? Ten years? What are your savings goals?
Moving out is something that I have wanted to do since I was a little girl and I saw my older
sisters moving out. I’ve always known that I’m an independent person and that I need to get out
and do things on my own to be happy, but I’ve also always known that moving out is expensive.

In my table, it may seem like my prices are extremely low, however, it’s because I have
a plan for this. My sister, Cassidy, has offered for me to move in with her husband and her to
Calgary where the cost of living is much cheaper. Another perk that they have offered me is that
I will have food included in my fees for living and it is a beautiful apartment with a 24 hour gym
facility. This, along with the fact that the apartments are in the university district, will probably
allow me the opportunity to sell my car as everything will be within walking distance. However,
for the first few months I will probably be keeping my car to get myself acquainted and that is
another $200 per month for parking, making my total around $800 a month for parking, food,
and rent, which is a sick deal.

Being able to get into a full time job for a year will allow me to save a lot of money before
first heading to school, which I think will highly benefit me. I will have to cut back on
unnecessary spending on things such as food, clothes, other entertainment. I will also probably
have to cut back on time with friends, because of the fact that I am going to have to start
working more often. These sacrifices also show a shift in my priority change. My priorities are
going to be working and saving money. Ideally, I would like to use some sort of savings
challenge on top of the saving that I will already be doing that will highly benefit me.

It’s hard for me to say how much money I want to save per year because my goal is
always going to be, as much as possible. I may end up making myself a budget after my first
month or two being adjusted to living in a new space and realizing how much I make, but for the
first little bit my goal will just be save as much as possible. I will use my savings mostly towards
schooling and university, however I’m sure there will be other expenses such as buying a car
again when I am ready, moving out into my own apartment, and other things like that. One of
my major goals is to not buy things unless I actually have the money for it, meaning that I have
double the amount of money that thing costs. This will allow me to make more rational
purchases by justifying the amount of money that I’m spending.

Although I know there are many challenges that I will probably face that I cannot predict,
I will be able to work through these issues, especially with the help of living with my sister and
her husband. I know with my determination and drive, I will be able to achieve the goals that I
set out for myself, such as my extensive saving.